The survival story of a New Guinea Singing Dog from Mt. Giluwe

Every myths and legends in PNG have a connection to a tribe, environment, flora and fauna. The New Guinea Singing Dogs have myths and legends that are connected to tribe or environment and its people of New Guinea.

The rarely seen Wild Dogs or the New Guinea Singing Dogs are linked to many myths and legends in PNG. At some places in PNG, if you see one of them in the jungles, it’s either good or bad luck for you.

Mt. Giluwe is home to a population of New Guinea Singing Dogs but are not seen by the locals, rather they hear the songs in the nights and early hours of the morning from the caves at the peak of Mt. Giluwe where humans are unable to reach them. Their echoes from the songs makes it difficult to tell which directions they live. Interestingly, the tracks between their hunting grounds and caves are not similar to that of any other animals in the forest. The locals believe that, the New Guinea Singing Dogs have a smart technique to jump or leap over to avoid making tracks to their homes. For years, it has been hard for the local people to locate where they live at Mt. Giluwe or it’s another story to them.

For twenty-year-old Thomas Tenda from Piambil Village near the foothills of Mt. Giluwe in the Imbongu District, it was a different story for him. In 2013, there was a dry season in the area and he went hunting with his dogs upstream Aleponga River which originates from the foot of Mt. Giluwe.

He does hear stories of New Guinea Singing Dogs that lives at Mt. Giluwe but never seen one in his lifetime. ‘’I have seen few footprints, feces and remains of scavenged wild animals that are believed to have be hunted by New Guinea Singing Dogs but they have no tracks and footprints to confirm anything further’’ said Thomas.

However, that fine afternoon in May, 2013, Thomas could get to see what he was told of as legends and myths. Armed with a catapult, he walked upstream Aleponga River with his hunting dogs. After walking for a while and further upstream, his hunting dogs were barking everywhere and chasing something unusual around the banks of the river and into the tree trunks nearby. He ran over to see what the dogs were chasing and to his surprise, there were three (3) New Guinea Singing Dog pups which were chased by his hunting dogs and trapped inside a hallowed root of a big tree. He put his hands through and retrieved all the three (3) pups safely and brought them home.

It is believed that, the mother must have brought the three pups to drink water from the stream but she left abandoning the them after sensing the people and the hunting dogs were approaching.

In the village, three (3) families took one pup each and adopted them, there were two males and one of them was a female.

Unfortunately, after few months, one male and the female died because they could not survive on the normal meal which the domesticated dogs do eat. ‘They are used to raw and wild animal meat as their feed and it was difficult for them to survive on the normal food, the two were losing their weigh each day and finally died;’’ Thomas recalled.

However, one of the male puppies which was adopted by a local Secondary School Teacher survived to this day and its name is now known in the villages of Tona and Piambil as Iceman. When asked for the significant of the name; Thomas said that; ‘’the name implies to a dog that lives in the cold places of Mt. Giluwe where the temperature at the peak drops to 5 Degree Celsius and below’’.

The Iceman is a wonder-dog in the community, at night when bored, he gets to a hillside and sings (yells) alone and then stops for a while, it is like a signal looking for his tribe or either hunter’s call and off he goes hunting. He returns in the early hours of the morning from his hunting trip and sleeps near his house of his owner. And it has been a normal routine for him in the village. He appears calm too but not friendly to anyone with his fiery look and appearances.

Now he has been used to normal food and can be friendly to people when they feed him with, pancakes, rice and meat but still he is not friendly to anyone like domesticated dogs do.

Iceman’s characteristics are not matched to any of the domesticated dogs that lives in the community and even his features are so complex and likely to be a mixed breed between German Shepherd and a Husky. His eyes are no normal, relatively have a slanted eye with prominent features that are rarely seen on any other dogs and he has whole brownish orange eye ball that looks fearful. The look on the face will tell anyone clearly that Iceman is not just any other domesticated dog and its mood is unpredictable.

There are highly likely chances of cross breeding in the community with Iceman involved and it’s interesting to see a new breed of dog in the community.

The curiosity might drive an urge for others to see the reality in a place like Piambil Village near the foothills of Mt. Giluwe whilst legends and myths remains the mystery for its people and the environment or elsewhere in PNG is just the same scenario. The New Guinea Singing Dogs still remains where they belong to in their own world racing with the changes in their environment and no exception to Mt. Giluwe, where they live.

According to the locals, the population of the New Guinea Singing Dogs at Mt. Giluwe might have been affected by the 1997 drought driven bush fire that burnt the part of Mt. Giluwe. Some of the usual signs that are used to be frequently done by New Guinea Singing Dogs are no longer seen in the area.

According to the locals, the remains of scavenged animals hunted by New Guinea Singing Dogs used to be plenty in the bushes if Mt. Giluwe but are not seen anymore these days. Now it is a concern for the locals to administer and find options to monitor the activities of the New Guinea Singing Dogs living at Mt. Giluwe to help sustain their habitats and minimize natural and man-made invasions.

It is not only the New Guinea Singing Dogs but there are some rare flora and fauna species that are believed to have extinct as a result of the bush fire in 1997 that burnt the Mt. Giluwe area and most of the habitats for flora and fauna were affected by the fire.

Nevertheless, there is so much to see in Tona and Piambil Villages with the access road from Tambul to Walium remains serviceable by four-wheeled-drive, the road used to be the oldest Highlands Highway connecting Hagen and Mendi is scenic country road which a four-wheel enthusiastic needs to get under his/her bucket list and be amazed. 

Tourism developments in the area is predicted to reach a paradigm shift with the support of local elites and leaders of Imbongu District. The area has scared sites which mysterious caves like Wabu cave where the Wenewene (spirit man) used to live there long ago and have  tales and legends that are retold to these days keeping the place scared. The Aleponga river has its own mysterious disappearance at the foot of Aleponga Rock and never seen elsewhere in the area again, countless crystal waterfalls, unique flora and fauna are still unexplored.

Finally, Iceman will live to testify the local legends and myths that; there is a phenomenon co-existence of the environment connecting with people of Papua New Guinea and its natural environment which the life's of our ancestors depended on and we are connected to it. 

Iceman at Piambil Village

Thomas Tenda at Piambil Village

Internet scammers in PNG keeping victims at bay silently

The internet scamming trend is phenomenon in PNG whereby innocent and uninformed citizens are victimized. Rather the internet scamming trend is rife now with the access to internet by anyone with a smartphone. Hence, anyone can be scammed into or lied by anyone over the internet with the combination of advancing technology. 

The rapid changes in the internet technology is  happening without any form of awareness towards the users in PNG about the problems and consequences. This is my personal effort to make the communities and people in PNG aware of the existence of internet scammers. It is rampant in some parts of African countries but now the idea has spread all over the globe and PNG is not exception to having internet scammer. 

At some stage, the PNG scammers using the technology and internet platforms are sending random Congratulatory messages to mobile phone users about their phone numbers randomly selected for certain promotions and to claim the prices, the recipient have to email/call/text the sender immediately.

There are phone numbers and email addresses provided in the message which are not related to the organization they refer to in their message.

Without having the courtesy to check for facts and other relevant details, some people have gone so wild after receiving the messages and made direct contact with the senders of the messages immediately. The senders of the messages were actually scams. They would advice you to pay some certain fees before collecting your price. That does not happen anywhere in the world where a promotional winner is allowed to pay any certain fees.  

Regardless of how it works with promotional winning claims, the unaware victims are paying the amount through either Post Office (SMK) or doing direct bank deposits and Western Union transfer. The winner expects the price redemption to be expedited soon towards his possession sooner after the first payment.

However, the agent (scam) intentional delays with several fees more fees  requested or at times switches off their phones to keep the victims under suspense. When the victims tries to contact the companies where the price originates from; they receive surprising responses with nonexistence of such promotions in their companies. 

It happened to my sister one time in Mt. Hagen in 2012. I accompanied her to the town and she drove directly to the Digicel Shop and bought a K50.00 Flex Card. She entered the numbers quickly and send it off to someone whom I do not know and she do not know as well. Then she called up the recipient and said, ''I already sent you the K50.00 Flex Card and I'm at the Digicel Office in Mt. Hagen, can I pickup my price here''.

I heard her talking and when she finished, I asked her, 'who was that; 'she said, the Digicel agent send me the congratulatory messages to my phone that I won K50 000.00 from the randomly selected numbers from Digicel Promotion. I was asked to collect the cheque in the office. To do that; the agents needed K50.00 Flex Card.  

I explained to her the existence of the scams in PNG and she should not have to give in easily like that, she should have checked for the details properly to see if such promotions have been advertised by Digicel PNG. 

To be honest, the rapid changes in the internet and having access on the smartphones is having a catastrophic impact in the lives of the people in PNG. It seems like, anyone can believe anything on the internet and believe into it without have any due consideration of the sources. There are news or promotional driven messages on the internet and mobile phone messages have scammers behind it. 

The scamming trend has gone from email to Facebook Inbox and then onto Whatsapp and IMO messenger and text messages. The scammers are really smart and can play around with people that will tend to know nothing of the existence of scam to ensure you are scammed. 

Many vulnerable people have lost their money in the process of receiving a promised Fortune, a Treasure Box , Million Dollars Transfer or to claim a Won Promotion on their phones. 

It is better to think that none of such like treasure box, million dollars transfer and uninformed promotional winning do exists in the world and it is ; purely work of the internet scammers. 

In whatever ways the messages were sent to you, it is for the best interest of yourself to; 

i. Confirm the sources of the messages or promotion to be 100% true and relevant

ii. To know their office location and get their specific details to confirm with other people

iii. Do not be too quick to pay any fees anytime soon event if requested persistently

The screenshot messages below are shared to me by Lorraine in Lae after viewing my first story I did to create awareness on the existence of the scam in PNG. 

It is terrifying for me to see the laws and requirements being mentioned and described by the scammer to Lorraine. Such laws and rules does not exists in PNG and a logical thinking would have prevented her from depositing or paying the second fees again. 

I was told that, their (scammer's) phone is off on the voicemail but so active on Whatsapp and IMO. It is assumed that, the scammers have diverted the voice-calls to voicemail intentionally and active on Apps which is appears to me as a smart idea. 

The screenshots of the message to Lorraine from the scammers based in Port Moresby by the name of Cassandra Wakia and some of her/his colleagues who are into this scam business.

This scam case has been reported to Lae Police Station and it is now a police case to investigate and bring these kind of people to face law and learn their lesson. 

Please be vigilant and do not give into such scam messages too quickly. Use your #SmartBrains and not #Smartphones.

This is uncommon in the logistical operations 

Payment was deposited into the nominated BSP Account with details

Clearly scammed into more money 

Samples of scammed packages 

Do scammers exist on internet?

Be smart and use your smart brains and not your smartphones

In this article I will briefly discuss the internet and mobile phone scamming trend that is rampant over the technological world and sounds genuine fortune or good luck towards anyone through social media Inbox but it does not exist as one thinks. It is costly to get involve for Nothing is Free in the business world. To understand the context of the internet scams better, please read through the article and some of the cases presented. 

Many of the unsuspecting man and women plus the vulnerable youths have been scammed into this trend and became victim by loosing valuables and money or shared their personal information with scammers which were used to manipulate their operations. Some of them lost most of their savings and hard earned income whilst others have loans with the hope of financing the promised treasures on transit to their homes.  

My personal experience (Case #1)
I came to learn and know the uses of internet with hands-on experience in 2015 at the university. With access to internet, I had my email accounts on Gmail and Yahoo engines opened together with Facebook account.

It was extremely exciting moment for me and I have to send emails to those people whom I have had their business cards and others from my notebook to reconfirm my email accounts. I got replies on real time with attachments of information I needed. The internet made my life at the university so easy and I started to browse any websites I wanted to know. 

On the other hand, with Facebook I could invite anyone and post anything anytime without even knowing the pros and cons that exists. I did not knew that my privacy was violated and bragging seems to be opposite of my real life at some stages. I gave a break to myself with Facebook. 

At one stage, I got an email from a very pretty lady in Ghana, South Africa. In her email, she said that; her father used to own a gold mine but due to a civil war in the area, her father was killed and mine was taken over by the enemy and she was taking refuge at a military camp. 

Her father's fortune were under her name as next of kin but she could not get it due to the fact that she was living in a military camp. She has to go into exile in order to claim her father's savings and investments. Hence, she needed a friend to contact some banks and important people in the investment sectors associated to her late father so that the funds can be transferred to me as the partner (trustee) in PNG. Even-though this sound new and strange to me, my excitement was more than I could ever imagine in my life. This deal seemed a lifetime luck and opportunity for me. I was already dreaming into what to get and what business to start with the fortunes coming my way. 

As days went by, we communicated consistently and she supplied me all the necessary documents electronically via email and everything appeared genuine and true with me.

I was curious but believed in her and kept every of the information to myself. Then, I followed all her instructions to contact the agents and investment companies relating to her late father's business links. In the process, I supplied all my personal details like; bank accounts, passport and others which would have been used by scammers to scam other people or if I happened to have lot of money in the bank account by that time then Im sure, I would have lost it all in the process to scammers.

To make the story short, after the communications were completed for the transfer of funds to me, she asked me to pay $1000.00 as a service fee to the bank via Western Union. At that time I had no money and the amount was too big for me as a student and mentioned to her that Im unable to pay the service fees. 

The tone of the communication changed and interests in the communication dropped unlike consistently. From thereon,  I knew it was not genuine luck for me and I was thinking again to get advice from some people to see if such business or luck do exists. 

I insisted on Western Union payments and tried to locate the bank details of the finance agent on the internet which required the service fee but could not locate it anywhere on the internet. I drew my own conclusion and block her off my contact lists - It was an internet scam.  

To my own understanding, there's nothing of such financial institutions exists anywhere in the world. I knew that the the transaction involving such billions of dollars will never be transferred to any banks in PNG easily with email exchanges. In fact, such transactions involving millions of dollars into PNG needs coordination with Central Bank of PNG which most ordinary people in PNG don't know yet (I guess). Such million dollars money will never enter PNG easily and secretly.

Case #2
From similar settings to case one, a pretty lady in one of the states in South Africa again emailed me saying; she had a treasure box full or billions of dollars from her family business that she wants to bring over to PNG due to a civil unrest in the area which was affecting her inherited family business. From the treasure box, she promised to give me 50% share of it, if I will help her process and coordinate the shipment of the treasure box to PNG.

She also promised to marry me and sent me her sexy photos which made me go so high on feelings every day/night and nearly gave up my studies too. I lost focus on other stuff in my life and concentrated on email exchanges with her from time to time for almost three months.

To make the story short, she asked me to pay for the agency fee that will take the treasure box to Indonesia in a week then to PNG. She said to expect a call from Indonesia on a given date. I waited and then my one bang Nokia on Bmobile rang and that Indonesian scam agent spoke to me genuinely and confirmed the shipment on transit from Africa. That person asked for trans-shipment fee of £1000.00 euro asap via Western Union. I was shocked with receiving international calls for the first time on my mobile phone. That phone call alone made me believe that the  treasure box was on transit and I was convinced to do the payment soon as possible but I have no money.  

I nearly borrowed or loaned that amount to pay for the shipment of the treasure box but it made me think again; there was nothing of such treasure box with millions of dollars transfer exists in the world and such cash shipment has never happened in my life or never heard of it.

With a bold statement, I replied her last email; ''Please, just bring anything and everything at your own cost to PNG and I will help you liaise with government and businesses for investment. After my email, there was no responses  and it all ended there. It was a good experience to know and understand the operations and existence of  the internet scams. 

Case #3
See the screenshot attachment. That person asked me to convert $1000.00 USD to PNG to pay for the clearance fee on some stuff coming from England which a friend was sending through. I asked to know if they were related in any work or anyone whom she met before. She denied and insisted many times to letting me know and later she admitted that;  they  met over the Facebook and a very nice friend to her and her family in PNG. My suspicion was right and I saved that person from loosing the big amount of money to the scam. 

Case #4
A friend of mine in Lae was asking me to help pay for the clearance fee of a Box in POM. That box was coming from Europe and have some expensive lady's stuff inside. I asked for consignment number and details to verify the details but that never happened because he insisted to provide me details. Out of frustration, that person said to fly over to POM and check the package for himself and he left me out of the discussion. Goodluck!

Case #5
There was someone by the name of Lydia in Buka paid for transshipment fee of K1000.00 of a box containing ladies stuff from Europe sent for her by her Facebook friends. The box must have arrived in POM and a customs agent in POM asked for another K1000. 00 clearance fee. At that point, she asked me to help pay for the clearance and she will repay after selling her stuff from the package. 

I asked for details of the box and there wasn't any shipment information like the consignment number.

That frustrated her and she left me out of the communication for assistance and said: if you wanted to help me out then pay the agent for the clearance and she provided a name of a male with BSP banking details. 

That agent (guy) already took the first K1000. 00 from her on the transshipment fee which was deposited directly into his BSP account provided. Again another K1000 for clearance was for customs clearance. (Such business transactions never exists in the logistics industry). I told her it was scam but she insisted and she said to pay for herself. I asked for the consignment details of the package but she never did. Goodluck!

Case #6
I have posted this message on all the social web-pages and blogs I managed and it saved some people from the similar scams that are existing in PNG as well.
Berdshiba is from Manus and she was aware of my messages on the Facebook about the existence of internet scams. 
She got the messages from some unknown phone numbers informing her of a parcel under her name in Port Moresby that was awaiting customs clearance and need her to pay the clearance fee. 
If she does not pay the fees then she would be arrested for not paying the customs fees. 
See the attached Whatsapp messages below. 

This is irrational and illogical to understand in business context but those scammers knows how to prey on the vulnerable and innocent people because that is what they have been doing to earn their living.   

There is not much awareness done on existence of internet and mobile phone scammers that exists. The responsible individuals, financial institutions and others need to create awareness platforms on this to safeguard our vulnerable people in the communities who have been exposed to the mobile phone and internet scam. 

The Bank of PNG is responsible for monetary policies and regulation mechanisms. As the responsible agency, the BPNG have issued several public notices like this on on the link;  https://www.bankpng.gov.pg/public-notice-on-email-scam/ . However, such information from BPNG is reaching only few people or its an intentional ignorance by many and keep falling prey for the internet and mobile phone scammers.  

Lessons learnt

• Nothing in this world that involves business is never free and its not free.
• No one will send your fortunes and treasures cheaply from anywhere in the world, Never!
• Such scammers have a networking worldwide and now it has links into PNG.
• For a parcel or box to arrive in PNG, the sender pays for everything on transit to PNG and if required, you as the receiver will pay clearance fee at the nearest Post Office, TNT /DHL upon collection and not in POM to anyone or agent.
• Do not pay clearance fee to any individual or agency, please confirm your consignment number (connote) with the carrier (Post PNG, TNT or DHL) before doing any payment.
• Ask the sender of the box or parcel to provide the consignment (connote) number of the carrier/parcel and track it online whilst on transit.
• There are so many online consignment tracking portals for free and please use them.  
• Please note that:, scammers are real and they do exist. Many have fallen victims and living in silence with agony and many more of such cases of mine or others outlines above exists whereby they lost money to scammers but I never lost any money and Im here to provide awareness on the lessons learnt.

Be smart and use your smart brains and not your smart phones, 
Never let your fingers and eyes  make decisions on such scams - Use your smart Brains.
Remember: Nothing is Free

By: raonraonpng media

Photos: Examples of scammed messages being screenshot by Berdshiba from Manus

Rego’s Karawa villager carves for a living

It was not our tradition but my dad learnt the ideas and skills somewhere in Port Moresby in 1970s and then he was one of those creative carver in our village. Now it earns us a living in the village.

While attending the University of PNG’s 13^th Tourism Convention at the Port Moresby campus by the final year Tourism and Hospitality Management students. My attention was caught by this lone stall towards the end of the display arena. On that day; there were many business houses and SMEs with stalls that were showcasing various products from arts and crafts to catering, body care and many more which resulted in one of the successful events ever staged by the students.

Nevertheless, the focus of this story is on the fifty-seven year old father of seven (7) children, Mr. Lohan Rove who comes from Karawa village in Rigo, Central Province. Mr. Rove dropped out of Grade Six in 1985 from Wood Lagoon Primary School. Whilst in the village, he learnt some carpentry skills with the interest to help is dad who was already into his carving business which he started in the 1970s from his stints as a student at Indubada Vocational School now Port Moresby Technical College.

After grade six, Mr. Lohan become a builder in the community and started building houses for people on contract basis. However, there was no way he was able to earn a consistent income with his carpentry skills and he opted to help his father with the carving business.

Life in the village became harder for Mr. Rove when he got married in 1989. Karawa village being located further inland from the sea, there was no easy options available for Mr. Rove and his family to make money or venture into any fisheries business or cash crop farming activities to earn a living. The accessibility to the area from Port Moresby also contributes to the hardships the Karawa community endures.

Towards the late 1980s, Mr. Rove involved fully with his father in the carving business and ensured that he learn all the skills and ideas to be a skilful carver like his father. Once the carvings have been completed, the different types, sizes and shapes made of Rosewood, Walnut and Mangroves are then taken into Port Moresby city by road to sell at Boroko Arts and Craft Market or sell at other convenient places in the city. Mr. Rove admitted that; this was only way he can sell his carvings which is the hardest way around for him in the city. Sometimes it takes weeks and months to sell a caving whilst living with his close friends and family in the city.

The carvings like, coffee tables, Kundu drums and ukulele are not easy sell out items in the city, the family usually lives with friends in the city and sells the carvings daily at the Boroko Craft Market. Sometimes when he is lucky, few of the customers do place their orders for a specifically curved item and that makes his work easy. When asked about how many bigger orders he did managed to delivered since he started to took over from his late dad, Mr. Rove said;  ‘’We do not take bulk orders but less than ten (10) of the same type or different types within ten piece was our limit since we started but we can take more than that.’’

The tables have a special folding leg frame which is skilfully curved out of a piece of log which can give three or four poles to support the wooden table top (either square or round) when loosen and straightened.

According to Mr. Lohan, the trade of designing and curving out the folding leg frame from a piece of log was learnt by Loha’s father in the 1970s at a market stall at Koki Girl’s Guide in the 1970s. The design seems to have brought from India by the Indian teachers who were teaching at the Indubada Technical College which is now Port Moresby Technical College.

Now Mr. Lohan is a creative carver with expert skills to curve out dinner and coffee tables to ukulele and other souvenir items on request or as his usual products. One of his fastest selling curved item in Port Moresby and in the village is the eight (8) string ukulele curved out of Rosewood and Mangroves. The local churches and string band groups have been using his ukulele product and it became one of the fastest selling item for him. The ukulele is cost K250.00 and comes with standard fret from Keynote Music House and strings doubled to effect the pitch and tone quality of the ukulele to attune into the standard musical pattern and rage. 

When asked if he have other interests to pursue in life apart from carving, he said; ‘I took over this trade and skills from my dad who raised us through the income from carving and now I have done it for my family and I will maintain what I’m doing to keep my father’s legacy. I have been teaching my children about carving skills while the Karawa community youths are also into carving to earn an income.’’ The competition in the carving within the Karawa community seemed to have set some standards in quality which was the reason why Mr. Loha’s products seemed to have originated from a well-equipped workshop with and the prices worth their value with the following range;

Coffee table (big) K1200.00

Coffee table (small) K800.00

Kundu drum (standard) K550.00

Ukulele (standard) K250.00

Out of the items Mr. Lohan has been producing, the Kundu Drum, which is the hardest item he has been producing so far. Because of the hallow and opening on either end with one side for beating and the other for the sound emission, it takes a lot of time to create one to the shape of the Kundu Drum with decorated patterns and handles outside.

Apart from carving some of the unimaginable items over the years with his father and now himself and his children into the curving business, he also makes himself available for carpentry work in the village and Rigo area. There are few challenges that are beyond his control, hence he only wish if one day there will be a market specifically for carvers in Rigo District or in Port Moresby where there is storage area for safe keeping of the carvings as well.

Indeed carving is really a tough artwork which comes with commitment that turns time into creativity. The works of the artisans, carvers, porters, artists and painters are some ways of looking into our past to ensure those items of cultural significant and cultural heritages coexist with the modern influences of the 20^th century. It would be rational for a leader to provide subsidy or incentives for such people who have taken their own initiatives to hold on to the skills and knowledge that are important to our societies as a livelihood support.

Photos courtesy of; #raonraonpng
Link to The National Newspaper article of the same story; Rigo villager carves a living

Mr. Loha and Naithan after the interview at UPNG Campus

Mr. Loha with his products and the special folding leg frame for tables

The Kapakapa Trail - Personal Diary #1

being an enthusiastic person to see and explore new places was my motivation but I did not realized that I was accompanying those well-conditioned trekkers from PNG and overseas.  

Whilst I could be the first PNG Government Officer to completed the full length of  Kapa Kapa Trail, a distance of 2700km approx in 18days of continuous walking until Girua Bridge (Popondetta) and onto Buna. 

I'm grateful to my employer PNG Tourism Promotion Authority for the opportunity and support. Also to Getaway Trekking Adventures for the logistics on the trail. Buna Treks & Tours boys from Central and Oro side for your endless support throughout the duration of 18days trekking. 

The local trekkers were young fellows who've heard stories of the WWII and the Fuzzy Wuzzy Angles but they have proven to us that; they have the genes of their grandparents who endured all odds on the trek to ensure that their masters were safe. I could imagine the different settings of the environment and trekking gears used those times of the war and today as tourism interest on the trek. We have good rests and there was always someone with refreshment (locally preferred word) consist of fruits and garden food to share with trekkers. 

 Whilst looking back to the interest of the local trekkers to take care of us in every situations on the trek,  there was overwhelming liveliness. The excitements on the trek were fueled by jokes, local songs and music from the solar powered boomboxes which were mounted onto the top of the trekking bags. We could surely feel the tiredness at some stages of the trekking but no boredom could never find us along the trek, there was always a local guide trekker or expat trekker checking on each other. 

 It could be the knowledge and skills the locals have learned to be into the business of trekking and guiding on the Kapakapa Trek but there the legacy of Fuzzy Wuzzy lives on. The younger generations have opted to live the footsteps of their great grand parents who lived to the name during the Second World War for Kokoda Campign and Buna Front Campaign by the Allied Forces. 

I will hardly forget those countless memories and experiences navigating upstream Kemp Welsh River, pushing boats, hiking uphill and downhill descending continuously for the average of 6 hours each day has become part of the Kapakapa Trek for me. The canopy walk without the exposure of the sun, the bush camps with bush fires all-around, the near to freezing point streams, the brush turkey eggs for lunch and dinner. Cooking the local foods in different ways, collecting galip nuts, getting to taste a lot of fruits, nuts and food along the treks forms a part of never to forget memory of me on Kapakapa Trek.  

The Ghost Mountain at the elevation of 2000+ meters above sea levels was a challenging climb on the trek with couple of adventures. At one stage, we lost the GPS trekking signal and arrived at the abandoned Suaru village. The heavy rainfall welcomed us back into the abandoned village and our tents were setup under the rain. Sadly, two of our guide trekkers (porters) who were carrying the  group canvas or tent for the guides went off-trek and met up with a waiting group on the other-side of the hill separated by terrains and rivers. 

It was fun onsite, we gradually made a big fireplace from the logs and dry woods at the site and collected rainwater from the canvas that was providing shelter for us. Those rainwater were used when there was no water for tea.

 Despite the slippery tracks, the fast flowing creeks and off the beaten tracks that could not pickup GPS and satellites signals, we all had fun with our endless songs and new war cry "Fire Wara" and what the Uda Boroma are you ?

The nights in the campsites were totally different from the villages, there were big fireplaces on each of the four corners of the campsite whilst candles lights were placed at separate areas to cast light over the camping area. It was us (trekkers) under the trees in the area used to be home to birds and other animals. 

However, the nights in the overnight villages feels like someone is welcoming you whole night. The exotic Rigo inland dialect songs voiced by children and elders over the acoustic guitar gave us the well deserved lullaby into rest.  

Depends on the elevation levels, some places were warm and hot whilst some were so cold that we have to unpack our sleeping bags and wrap ourselves until 5.30am call for packing and breakfast before setting off on the journey. 

The rivers and creeks were so cold to the near freezing point and the good part of the reconditioning therapy for trekkers is the naturally cold creeks.  To explain how cold the creeks where is unreal but if anyone has to be under the water for more than a minute loses the consciousnesses. The cold water therapy us outdoing all the pains I had from the 5-7hours work each day to reach the next camp.

Im also grateful with Buddy Walbino's boys from Central side and the Buna Treks and Tours boys under the leadership of Peter Bonga. 

Not forgetting our host villages from Sirimu to Buna. You all have a tradition that is blended well into your cultures and that's where the force of attraction is on Tourism for Kapa Kapa Trail. 

Thanks to Kevin, Joe & Julie, Stephan, Donna, James, Rachael, Peter Gamgee for the team efforts.

#KapaKapaTrail #KokondaTrack #BunaTreksTours #GetawayTrekking #pngtourism #pngtravel #pngjourneys #ghostmountainboys #raonraonpng

Talking to the community at Itokam Village in Oro Province

Group Photo at New Suwai Village

At the top of Ghost Mountain. Photo by: Donna